war in Ukraine
The empty prams of Lviv – with this symbol a city makes the world cry
The empty prams are a symbol – but for many families whose children were killed in the Ukraine war, the cruel reality is
© Mykola Tys / Picture Alliance
The war in Ukraine destroys lives and families’ happiness forever. The people of Lviv show this with a memorial that they built with the simplest of means.
In western Ukraine, in Lviv, people have erected a memorial that probably leaves no one indifferent: 109 prams and buggies are neatly lined up on the market square, with a few child seats and infant carriers in between. A poster reads “108” and the number 8 has been crossed out with a felt-tip pen and replaced with a 9 – that’s how many children have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. The empty prams make it frighteningly clear how many there are.
Attacks on institutions with children in Ukraine
Lviv, 75 kilometers from the Polish border, has been largely spared from the Russian attacks, even though there was an attack near the airport on Friday. But the countless refugees from other parts of the country, who are increasingly populating the city, have often experienced bad things – and it always hit the little ones.
There were attacks on schools, hospitals, a children’s hospital, a maternity ward. Most recently, a theater in Mariupol was bombed, where hundreds of people had sought refuge – even though the word “Children” in Russian was clearly visible on both sides of the building. The Ukrainian government-organized memorial made of empty prams on Lviv’s main square gives people a place to mourn.
A young mother cries at the sight of baby carriages in Lviv
Kateryna Bandzhanova looks around, lost in thought. She pushes a stroller herself, with her eleven-month-old daughter Solomja sitting in it. For a moment it’s the only occupied stroller on the sunny, cobbled square.
The young mother tries in vain to hold back her tears. “I’m full of pain,” she tells AFP. Even the future of her country causes her pain, “because the children are the future”. “With the children, they are also killing the future of this country – its heart and soul.”
See in the photo gallery. Three weeks of war brought death and devastation to Ukraine. With Lviv, Odessa and Kyiv, other cities are facing heavy attacks and destruction. A glimpse of city views that may soon be gone.